The ARANEUS Guide to Web-Site Development
Giansalvatore Mecca, Paolo Merialdo, Paolo Atzeni, Valter Crescenzi · 1999
TheAraneusGuidetoWeb-SiteDevelopmentGiansalvatoreMecca1,PoloMerialdo;2AtzeniValterCrescenzi1D.I.F.A.{UniversitadellaBasilicata2D.I.A.diRomaTreviadellaTecnica,3VascaNavale,7985100-Potenza,Italy00146{Roma,[mecca,merialdo,atzeni,crescenz]@dia.uniroma3.itAraneusProjectWorkingReportAWR-1-99(version1.0{March9,1999)AbstractWebsitesarerapidlyb ecomingaworld-widestandardplatformforinformationsystemdevelop-ment.Thepap errep ortsontheworkconductedinlastfewyearsframewofAraneuspro jectinthe eld,presentingmo dels,to ols,metho dologies,techniquesforWebdesignanddevelopment,aswellideascomingfromanumb erofconcreteexp eriencesinelopingdata-intensiveWebsitesusingthesystem.alsodiscussresearchdirectionswarefollowingtode neauni edframeworkfordataandapplicationmanagementontheWeb.1Intro ductionWeb-Sitedevelopmenthasrecentlyimp oseditselfasanewandchallengingdatabaseproblem.Thishasjusti edanumb erofresearchprop osalscomingfromthedatabasearea(e.g.,[11 ,17 ,10,25 ,23 ])fordatamanagementinWebsites;otherrelevanworksthe eldhaveestigatedextensionofdesignmetho dologiestothesesites,andtheirinteractionwithdevelopmentto ols[12 ,18 ].Indeed,thenotionofaWebsitehasrecentlyevolvedfromsmall,home-madecollectionhtmlpagesintoanumb erofdi erentforms,includingrathercomplexandsophisticatedinformationsystem.Giventhelargenumb eranddiversityofWebsites,we ndusefultoclassifythemincategories,accordingtotheircomplexityintermsofdataandapplications(i.e.,services),asshownFigure1.1.wecallWeb-presencSitesthosesiteswithlocomplexityb othintermsofdataandappli-cations;thesesitesusuallycontainasmallnumb erofpages(intheorderdozens),andmainlyserveformarketingpurp oses;wb elievthatavastp ortionofWebsitesdofallinthiscategory;however,giventherelativelysmallsize,theseareusuallymadebyhand,p ossiblywiththehelpofhtmleditorsorsimplesite-managersoftware;2.theservice-orientedsitesareonesmainlydedicatedtosomesp eci cservice.Thereseveralexamplesofthesesites:oneexamplearesearchengines;anothertypicalfreeemailservices,likeHotMail[3 ].Inb othcases,althoughthesitemayhavalargeback-enddatabase,thestructureofdataandhyp ertextisquitesimple(typicallyonesingleclassofob jects),andthecomplexityisratherinunderlyingapplicationsthatguaranteeservice;3.catalogue(ordata-intensive)sitesarethatpublishmanydata,andthereforehaveacomplexhyp ertextstructure,buto erlittleornoservices.Academicsites{withdataab outp eople,1